Tuesday, March 18, 2014

REVIEW: A Pair of Docks by Jennifer Ellis

This post is part of a review tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.

Jennifer will be awarding a Print copy of A Pair of Docks to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US ONLY), and a Mobi or epub version of A Pair of Docks will be awarded to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop.

Fourteen-year-old Abbey Sinclair likes to spend her afternoons in the physics lab learning
about momentum and gravitational pull. But her practical scientific mind is put to the test when
her older brother, Simon, discovers a mysterious path of stones that allows them, along with
Abbey’s twin, Caleb, to travel back and forth between their world and what appears to be...the
future.

Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones who know about the stones, and they soon realize their
lives are in danger from a man known only as Mantis. Abbey, Caleb, and Simon must follow a
twisting trail of clues that will lead them from their autistic neighbor, Mark, to a strange professor
who claims to know the rules of the stones, and to multiple futures—some of whose inhabitants
don’t want to stay put.

It will take all of Abbey’s analytical skills to unravel the secrets of the stones, uncover the
threads that tie the futures together, thwart Mantis’s plan, and, most importantly, keep her family
alive—now and in the future.

A Pair of Docks explores Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, the meaning of time, the potential for
parallel universes, and the boundary between science and witchcraft.

My Review:

This story is told by the main character-- Abbey, a science nerd, and revolves around an alternate world she and her brothers accidentally discover. It's a nice mixture of time travel, alternate realities, and mystery.

It's the first book in the series, which is very exciting to me as I really enjoyed getting to know these characters. Abbey can be a little aggravating at times, but for the most part I really identified with her. There's a hint of a possible romance coming, which is nice to look forward to. I also really liked her brothers, Simon and Caleb, and the dynamics between them all.

Her parents I didn't get such a good feel on, as they were virtually absent for most of the book, due to the mother's political campaign, but given the revelations at the end of the book, I expect them to play a bigger part in the next book. Hopefully not TOO big, though, because this is still a YA series.

I think this book would be good for all ages.

Now, enjoy an excerpt:

Abbey wanted to shake him. She expected this from Caleb, but not from Simon. “Oh yeah,
let’s get on board the ship of someone who might be trying to deal with Sinclair.” She slashed
quotation marks in the air around ‘deal with’. “Did you miss the lecture from Mom about not
accepting rides from strangers? This is like the ultimate stranger danger. Has your adrenaline
replaced your brains? You’ve spent too much time playing World of Warcraft. What about the
fact that we have no idea how to fix his computer?” Even while she said all of this, a small
part of her was feeling like she would hate herself forever if she bolted back to the stones and
forced her brothers to come with her. A small part of her wanted to go on board. It was actually
a rather large part of her, she decided, but her rational mind had it in a firm and unassailable
stranglehold. Of course they’d all watched and read The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, The
Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings, although she rather suspected that Caleb hadn’t made it
through The Return of the King. Of course they’d all imagined being in one of those books, or at
least she expected her brothers had, and judging from the twitchy animation of their faces, she
was correct. But actually committing to the absolute, and likely unsafe, unknown—which she
suspected wasn’t populated with elves as handsome as Orlando Bloom—when they had a clear
and easy path to their safe, and not unpleasant, home was another thing altogether.

About the Author

Jennifer Ellis is the author of A Pair of Docks, and In the Shadows of the Mosquito Constellation
(forthcoming). She writes contemporary action-adventure fiction with a dystopic edge for both
adults and children.

She lives in a small ski town in Canada with her husband and two boys
where she skis, does ballet, cooks, joins too many book clubs and works as environmental
researcher.

She blogs randomly but regularly at www.jenniferellis.ca and can be found on
Twitter at @jenniferlellis.

A Pair of Docks, can be purchased on Amazon.com at: http://amzn.to/
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